Who’s Afraid of Big Bad Milwaukee Charter Schools?

Milwaukee Teachers Association boss Bob Peterson bemoaned a reform plan which establishing some charter schools.  Christian D’Andrea of the McIver Public Policy Institute counters Peterson’s claims.  Charter schools may be exempt from some school district regulations, including monopoly bargaining.  Act 10  has reined in monopoly bargaining and given teachers Right to Work privileges.

Last Wednesday, Bob Peterson – President of the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association – took aim at Wisconsin’s school accountability plan. He sounded alarm bells about the possibility that chronically underperforming schools could be shut down and reopened as charter programs if they don’t improve over a three to five year span. However, his claims don’t hold up once you push through the surface tension of a screed that’s more concerned with independent charter school operators than the performance and growth of students themselves.

Here are a few of the issues that Peterson raises that just don’t hold water.